Carl Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year career with the Boston Red Sox. Yaz is an 18-time all-star, the possessor of seven Gold Gloves, a member of the 3000 hit club, and a member of the Hall of Fame. In 1967, Yaz was voted the American League MVP and is the last winner of the triple crown in the major leagues.

The Show Comes to Wichita

Not sure if you all noticed the construction going on south of the city. You know the one I'm talking about, the huge stadium they've been building for the last 18 months. Well it's finally done and our new Yaz team, the Tomcats, will be residing there this year.
The T'Cats finished in last place in the AL South with a 67-95 record last year. They scored only 690 runs on the season (second lowest in the AL) and gave up 874 (5th most). I haven't seen anyone "in the know" who has projected them over 70 wins this year. So when I drew the assignment to cover them the word that went through my head was not the type of thing my editors would let me print here, but in watching them this spring they may just have turned things in the right direction. They have 5 new faces in this years opening day lineup vs last years. The ball was jumping off their bats this spring, both the big leaguers and the minor leaguers were "crushing" it. They lead all Yaz teams in runs scored (117), Hits (200), BA (.302), OBP (.372), and OPS (.883) while finishing second in 2B (35), HR (34) and SLG (.511). Now I know the list of people who have been let down after getting excited over a big spring training is long, but if nothing else, it points to the fact that they should do much better than their 15th best in scoring last season and with the pitching staff slightly improved and the defense going slightly in the other direction their runs allowed should be near the same. So allowing the same number of runs and scoring more should work out to more wins, and even if it doesn't, it sure is fun to watch the ball fly over the outfield fence.
So let's all get the family together, head down to the corner to catch one of the 20 team buses that run every game day (the ride is free if you have tickets and comes off the price of the tickets if you buy at the stadium) and enjoy a nice summer day supporting our new team, the Wichita Tomcats. Win or lose it should be a fun team to watch, and who knows, we may just surprise some of those "experts".